'Top kill' fails to stop spill

CHICAGO—Hopes for the latest effort to stop the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico were crushed Saturday evening when BP announced that the high-stakes "top kill" operation failed and officials will try another option.

President Barack Obama, who visited the Gulf Coast Friday and is spending the weekend in Chicago with his family, responded to the news by calling the continued leaking of oil into the Gulf “enraging as it is heartbreaking.”

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“As I said yesterday, every day that this leak continues is an assault on the people of the Gulf Coast region, their livelihoods, and the natural bounty that belongs to all of us,” Obama said in a statement. With “top kill” declared a failure, Obama said the Coast Guard has now directed BP to cut the riser pipe on the offshore drilling rig and fit a containment structure over the leak a mile beneath the gulf. It’s a risky procedure never attempted at such depth.

“This approach is not without risk,” Obama warned in an apparent attempt to lower expectations. “That is why it was not activated until other methods had been exhausted. It will be difficult and will take several days.”

As BP attempts the procedure, called lower marine riser package gap, oil could continue to gush into the Gulf for at least another week, broadening what is already the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer, had earlier made the announcement that the oil giant was abandoning the “top kill” effort to plug the leak with mud and cement.

"We have not been able to stop the flow," Suttles said, without explaining why. “We have made the decision to move on to the next option.”

Suttles said it will take at least four days to see results from the latest attempt to cap the leak, which will collect most of the oil but not stop the flow.

Many, including residents of the Gulf Coast, had high hopes for the top kill operation when it began Wednesday.

“My heart broke,” he told CNN of when he learned the news from his wife. “It’s just sad.”

But Obama, who spent Saturday evening at a barbecue at a friend’s house with the first lady, their two daughters and other relatives, offered a reminder that the success of “top kill” was not assured.

“It is also important to note that while we were hopeful that the top kill would succeed, we were also mindful that there was a significant chance it would not,” Obama said. “And we will continue to pursue any and all responsible means of stopping this leak until the completion of the two relief wells currently being drilled.”

Officials don’t expect relief wells to be complete until August, further dragging out an oil spill that began on April 20.

“It is as enraging as it is heartbreaking, and we will not relent until this leak is contained, until the waters and shores are cleaned up, and until the people unjustly victimized by this manmade disaster are made whole,” Obama said.